Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co.

, is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century. Formerly a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Sears merged with Kmart in early 2005, creating the Sears Holdings Corporation. From its mail order beginnings, the company grew to become the largest retailer in the United States by the mid-20th century, and its catalogs became famous. Competition and changes in the demographics of its customer base challenged the company after World War II as its rural and inner city strongholds shrank and the suburban markets grew. Eventually its catalog program was largely discontinued.

Mail order catalog

Richard Warren Sears started a business selling watches through mail order catalogs in North Redwood, Minnesota. The next year, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he met Alvah C. Roebuck, who joined him in the business. In 1893, the corporate business name became Sears, Roebuck and Co. Before the Sears catalog, farmers typically bought supplies (often at very high prices) from local general stores. Sears took advantage of this by publishing his catalog with clearly stated prices, so that consumers could know what he was selling and at what price, and order and obtain them conveniently. The catalog business grew quickly.

The first Sears catalog was published in 1888. By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages, featuring sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods,automobiles and a host of other new items.

Organizing the company so it could handle orders on an economical and efficient basis, Chicago clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald became a part-owner in 1895. Alvah Roebuck had to resign soon after due to ill health, but the company still retained his name. By the following year, dolls, refrigerators, stoves and groceries had been added to the catalog. Sears, Roebuck and Co. soon developed a reputation for both quality products and customer satisfaction. By 1895, the company was producing a 532-page catalog with the largest variety of items that anybody at the time could have thought of. Sales were greater than $400,000 in 1893 and more than $750,000 two years later. In 1906 Sears opened its catalog plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower. Also, by that time, the Sears catalog had become known in the industry as "the

Consumers' Bible". In 1933, Sears, Roebuck and Co. produced the first of its famous Christmas catalogs known as the "Sears Wishbook", a catalog featuring toys and gifts and separate from the annual Christmas Catalog.

Retail stores
The first Sears retail store opened in Chicago on February 2, 1925 in the Merchandise building (in a portion of the company's headquarters at Homan Avenue and Arthington Street). This store included an optical shop and a soda fountain The first freestanding retail store opened October 5, 1925 in Evansville, Indiana. During the summer of 1928 three more Chicago department stores opened, one on the north side at Lawrence and Winchester, a second on the south side at 79th and Kenwood, and the third at 62nd and Western. In 1929 Sears took over the department store business of Becker-Ryan Company. In 1933 Sears tore down the old Becker-Ryan Company store in Englewood, and built the first windowless department store, inspired by the 1932 Chicago World's Fair. From the 1920s to the 1950s, Sears built many urban department stores. Starting in the 1950s, the company expanded into suburban markets, and malls in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1959, it had formed the Homart Development Company for developing malls. Many of the company's stores have undergone major renovations or replacement since the 1980s. The company was the largest retailer in the United States until the early 1980s but had dropped significantly in rankings by the time it merged with Kmart

Shop Your Way Rewards

Shop Your Way Rewards is the rewards program of all the Sears Holding Brands. It was started by Kmart as Kmart Smart Rewards as a pilot program. One year after the Smart Rewards Program was started the name and program was changed to Shop Your Way Rewards. During the test part of the program it was limited to certain Sears and Kmart stores. After the test of the program was considered a success by Sears marketing team, it was introduced to all Sears Holding Brands including Sears, The Great Indoors, Sears Grand, Kmart, Lands End, and My Gofer. The program has four tiers. The tiers are Member, VIP Silver, VIP Gold, VIP Platinum, and VIP Executive. To reach the VIP levels of the program customers

must meet a certain spending qualification criteria. Potential members may enroll in the rewards program at any Sears Holdings run outlet or online. Shopyourway Rewards has since replaced the former Craftsman Club Rewards program. Sears employees are required to sign up at least 1 in every 3 customers who isn't already in the program.

Diversification
Sears began to diversify in the 1930s, adding Allstate Insurance Company in 1931 and placing Allstate representatives in its stores in 1934. Over the decades it established major national brands, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Silvertone, Supertone, and Toughskins. The company became a conglomerate during the mid-20th century, adding Dean Witterand Coldwell Banker real estate in 1981, starting Prodigy as a joint venture with IBM in 1984, and introducing the Discover credit card in 1985. In March 2009, Sears purchased the social search engine Delver.

Divestiture and Sears Grand

In the 1990s the company began divesting itself of many non-retail entities, which were creating a burden on the company's bottom line. Sears spun off its financial services arm which included brokerage business Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card. It sold its mall building subsidiary Homart to General Growth Properties in 1995. Sears later acquired hardware chain Orchard Supply Hardware in 1996 and started home improvement store The Great Indoors in 1997. In 1993, Sears stopped production of its general merchandise catalog because of sinking sales and profits. However, Sears Holdings does continue to produce specialty catalogs and reintroduced a smaller version of the Holiday Wish Book in 2007. In 2003, Sears sold its retail credit card operation to Citibank. The remaining card operations were sold to JPMorgan Chase in August 2005. In 2003, Sears opened a new concept store branded Sears Grand. Sears Grand stores carry everything that a regular Sears carries, plus health and beauty, toys, baby care, cleaning supplies, home decor, pet food, cards and party supplies, books, magazines, electronics, music, movies, and an edited assortment of groceries. Sears Grand stores are about 175,000 to 225,000 square feet (16,300 to

19,500 m). The first Sears Grand store (and still the largest at 225,000 sq ft) opened at Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Utah in 2003.

Merger with Kmart

On November 17, 2004, Kmart announced its intentions to purchase Sears. As a part of the merger, the Kmart Holdings Corporation would change its name to Sears Holdings Corporation. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands. In 2005, the company began renovating some Kmart stores and converting them to the Sears Essentials format, only to change them later toSears Grands.

Sears Holding India

Sears Holdings India (SHI) is a Retail Technology Company and works as an extended arm to the core Information Technology (IT) team of Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC), located in the United States, in developing and maintaining mission-critical systems used by SHC subsidiaries. At SHI, our world-class professionals provide exemplary services to help SHC generate more value for its customers and shareholders. SHI fulfills a unique role by bringing technology solutions and retail business process automation that support all business units within SHC. Team members hail from various professional and personal backgrounds, but all are committed to providing cutting-edge, innovative services and tools to the customers. SHI team helps in enabling all aspects of the retail business through technology including such diverse areas as Online, Supply Chain, Marketing, Store Systems, Business Intelligence and Corporate Systems. Sears Holdings India (SHI) is located in Pune, India and will be the global center for IT operations, outside of the United States, for SHC. SHC is one of few United States retailers to have a fully-owned support centre in India.